Wednesday, 12 October 2011

Cheers to three years

To
celebrate being three, and in the abridged style of High Fidelity, here are
some top three lists:

Top three things
I’ve done because of writing this blog that I wouldn’t have done if I didn’t
write this blog

1.Travelling
to lots of different places – New York, San Francisco, Boulder, Rome, Prague,
Belgium. I may have gone to these places but I saw a different side

2.Brewing
a beer with BrewDog

3.Craft
beer list with Byron Hamburgers

Top three moments
thanks to blogging about beer

1.Any
time someone sees me in a pub, or sends me an email, and says they read the
blog and enjoy it – it makes it all worthwhile

2.Winning
two awards from the British Guild of Beer Writers (I was asked the other day if
I think it made a difference to me and it absolutely has – it gave me
opportunities to write properly, to write for print, and it gave me the guts to
keep on going)

3.Seeing
my writing in print for the first time (and seeing the cheque I got with it)

Top three beers
I’ve drunk while writing this blog

1.Racer
5 in many different places – The Rake, my house, the brewery, The Toad in the
Hole in Santa Rosa

2.Pilsner
Urquell in the cellars under the brewery

3.Pliny
the Elder, Toronado, San Francisco – first beer of my first beer trip

Top three places
(excluding pubs and breweries) I’ve drunk beer while writing this blog

1.A
beach on a little Greek island as the sun’s setting. Icy Mythos and a plate of
little fried fish. Perfection.

2.On
a hotel rooftop in NYC, having climbed up the fire stairway. We opened a can of
21st Amendment and watched the skyline in the distance

3.Citi
Field. A cold lager, a hot dog and baseball

Top three
breweries I’ve had a beer in

1.Cantillon.
Magical

2.Pilsner
Urquell. Incredible

3.Russian
River. Mind-blowing

Honorable mention: Oskar Blues. Awesome

Top three pubs
or bars I’ve had a beer in

1.Toronado,
San Francisco

2.Barcade,
Brooklyn

3.Bir
+ Fud, Rome

Honorable mention: Moeder Lambic,
Brussels

Top three
strangest – what am I doing here? – moments thanks to blogging about beer

1.A beer bath in Czech Republic

2.Climbing into my first mash tun. It was at the old Thornbridge Brewery. My fear of heights peaked as I ungracefully tried to climb into the tank while fighting a fierce battle with my fear of falling

3.Elizabeth
Street Brewery. A home-brewery in San Francisco, a party for the Superbowl,
lots of food, lots of people, lots of home-brewed beers on tap and the biggest
TV I’ve ever seen. Not a strange place, just a brilliant thing to find myself
at – a unique experience

Arguments
I’ve had with Lauren because I’ve been on twitter/reading or writing blogs/out
drinking beer/reading a beer book when I should’ve been spending time with her:
Approximately 638. Sorry Lauren.

Cheers
for reading this. If you didn’t read it and add comments then it wouldn’t be
what it is. Most days for three years I’ve got up at 5am to write this, I’ve
spent my weekends chasing beers and going to new pubs, I’ve spent all my spare
money travelling or buying bottles or books or another bookshelf because I’ve
bought so many (or buying Lauren presents because I’ve just put in another
order with myBrewerytap/Amazon/Expedia). I do it all because I love doing it.
And because beer is brilliant.